Digimon XEvolution
by CrimsonMirage
Summary: Digital Monsters aren't real. At least officially; according to the U.S. Government. Unofficially, the world has been in grave danger for years. And as the danger grows, so does the power of the ones that defend our world. The Digimon Tamers...


Phase 1: Ch 1- Beginnings and Omens

The rain came down hard, pounding relentlessly on the abandoned buildings and run-down apartment complexes. Lightning lanced through the sky, illuminating two silhouettes balanced precariously on top of one of the buildings.

The first was decidedly human, and male, if muscular build was taken into play. The figure was tall, probably between 6'2" and 6'3", with short, rain-soaked hair that plastered itself flat in the pouring rain. Upon closer inspection, the hair had a blood red hue to it. The now identifiable male had his hands stuffed tightly into the silver and black jacket that he adorned. The jacket, white shirt, and black jeans that he was wearing were pasted to his body from the downpour, and the look on his face showed that he was not at all amused about his current situation.

The second figure looked like something from a science fiction novel, with its purple and silver fur coat covering its raptor-like body. As lightning lit up the sky, one could see rows of gleaming, razor-sharp teeth, along with pitch black claws on its forearms. It was bipedal, and its hind legs rippled with muscles, leaving one to wonder how long a human could last against a creature such as this. Possibly the most interesting characteristics of the creature was the pair of small black wings that sprouted from its back, as well as the crimson, metallic triangle that was imprinted on its forehead. This creature did not appear any more at ease than the human it was standing next to.

The creature broke the silence between the two, not with a growl or other animalistic gesture, but with plain English.

"I thought you said the signal was coming from here." it intoned in a deep voice.

"That's what Andrews said," the human replied. He then fished an odd, triangular device out of his pocket. The device, which now looked like a highly detailed PDA, made a beeping noise, and a holographic compass appeared centimeters from the surface of said device. The red arrow of the compass pointed directly ahead of the two, toward the ground below. The boy's hazel eyes narrowed at the location the arrow pointed in. "and the D-Arc confirms it."

Suddenly, a dark mist sprayed seemingly from the ground and covered the surrounding area. The boy and the raptor were safe from the fog from their position on the building. An ear-splitting roar pierced through the stormy night, giving the situation an even more ominous feeling. The teen smirked as he held the 'D-Arc' tighter in his hand.

"And the D-Arc is never wrong."

With that said, both figures dashed from the rooftop and into the fog.

_**--Scene Change--**_

_**Theme song Unbreakable by Fireflight plays**_

_**--Scene Change--**_

An unearthly screech resounded through the silent apartment the next morning. Brown eyes jerked open before narrowing into a glare at the source of the offending noise. A hand lashed out from under a green quilt and slammed down on the alarm clock, silencing the annoying device and plunging the room into silence once more.

Weston Smith was not a morning person, especially when he had been forced to work later than usual the day before. As he rolled out of bed, he glanced at the mirror near his bed. He took in his disheveled, short brown hair and sighed. He had a presentation due today, so he would have to actually look presentable for his first class, which was in only 30 minutes.

He cleared his head with a quick splash of water to his face, and as he headed off to the shower, he prayed no one else would be using it. It seemed he was in luck, because the shower was empty as he approached. After he stripped down, he took a minute to inspect his body for any blatantly obvious marks that would be difficult to explain to his classmates. What he saw didn't surprise him.

His body was lined with bruises, though thankfully the worst of the marks would be covered once he got dressed. The worst of the marks was around his right ribcage. This did not surprise him either. The way his chest still throbbed, it was likely that he had cracked one of the ribs in that area while working the night before. He winced slightly as he touched the bruise. _'Hopefully it'll be fully healed in a couple of days, although I wish last night hadn't been the biggest breakout since I first took my job.' _Weston thought as he turned on the shower and stepped in.

After he had showered and dressed, which took all of fifteen minutes, he grabbed a device that looked eerily familiar to the device the red-haired boy had donned the night before. The coloration was different, with an orange outline instead of red, and a white body instead of black. He pressed one of the buttons on the face to bring up the same compass as the other boy used. The arrow pointed toward the roof, signifying that his partner had chosen to recuperate in the fresh air rather than in the "stuffy and smelly" apartment.

Weston trekked up the fire escape as quickly as he could to let his partner know that he would be in class the first half of the day. Once he reached the roof, he scanned the rooftop for the creature he called his partner. Finally, he spotted the orange, leathery skin of his partner. Purple stripes adorned the thing's back, as well as its short orange tail. It had large white claws, and appeared to walk on its hind legs. One green eye cracked open to track Weston's approach.

Weston smirked as he took in his partner's tired stance. He knew the 'animal' felt twice as bad as he did, which was a small consolation for all the pain he was in.

"What?" the small dinosaur nearly growled, trying and failing to sound threatening.

Weston's smirk grew. "I'm going to class so if you want food, you better get inside before I lock up."

The dino, now fully awake, glared at the teen through shadowed eyes.

"Right now I can barely move, and you want me to climb all the way down there?" it asked incredulously.

"Awww, come on X, surely your not still sore from last night? I thought you were always bragging about how you were the strongest and could never get hurt?"

X's eyes narrowed at the veiled insult. He then snorted, causing a short burst of flame to spurt out his nose. "Like you feel any better. What was with that anyway? There's never been more than three bio-emergences in a month, and there were four last night!" the small dinosaur declared, throwing his arms up with the last comment.

"I have no idea," Weston replied, "and Jon apparently didn't either, and he's been doing this longer than we have."

"I wonder how he and Dorumon are doing anyway, after all, they went face to face with two Champion levels. No Rookie, no matter how strong, can fight two Champions in such quick succession and not be exhausted afterward." X claimed.

"Knowing Jon, they came out just fine. Like I said, he's had more experience at this than I have." Weston scowled slightly at the last comment. He knew that the choosing of tamers was random, but really, eight months was a long time to go without backup. Jon had been the first in the American region to be chosen (with Weston being the second and only other tamer so far), but the eight month gap separating the two just never seemed to be closing.

The choosing of a tamer was not actually random, but it was seemed that way because so few Digimon had the ability to partner with a human. When one of these Digimon is drawn out of the digital world, it would be inexplicably drawn to one human that it could sense a bond with. A D-Arc would then be bestowed upon said human, identifying them as a new tamer. The biggest problem with this method was the large gap in time between the christening of new tamers. It had been four months since Weston had been chosen, so he had no serious thoughts about a third tamer being added to the team any time soon.

Weston glanced at X and smiled. "Well I've wasted too much time already. We can talk about this with Jon and Andrews tonight. Right now, I've got to go." He said before climbing down the fire escape. He skipped the last few steps, and regretted it a moment later, when the impact jarred his still sore and healing ribs. X followed after him and entered the apartment, slamming the door behind him. "And don't trash the place!" Weston shouted as he turned and left.

_**--Scene Change--**_

Rachel Jones was, if she should say so herself, the most popular girl in her class, and most likely, in her entire school. With her long blond hair and bright blue eyes, it was no wonder she thought herself a knockout. Of course, certain well-endowed "assets" may have also attributed to her popularity. But, Rachel wasn't all body. She was at the top of her class in most subjects (she couldn't help it that history was so boring), and she was the head cheerleader. In short, she was the girl all the guys wanted to be with, and all the girls wanted to be.

As she picked out her school outfit, she couldn't help but feel as though something were off about the day. Little did she know that her perfect life was about to be turned on its head…

_**--Scene Change--**_

_**Unknown Government Agency- Los Angeles, California**_

The building stood tall and menacing in downtown Los Angeles, what with its central body as tall as many of the buildings surrounding it and its even taller twin towers that jutted up from the east and west sides of the building. Red flashing lights crowned the tops of the towers, adding to the effect.

The inside of the building was what one would expect to see in a government facility. A large reception area with an information assist was positioned just beyond the front doors. Elevators lined one end of the lobby, leaving one to assume that many people worked in the building. Most of the upper floors consisted of work desks with government personnel going about their daily business. But these were the only parts of the building that the public was aware of. Secretly, many of the desks and personnel were there just to keep up appearances. The real work was done behind the scenes, in a place only the highest echelons of the American Government even knew existed.

The man that ran this secret facility was known as Andrews. Just Andrews, as not even his most trusted employees knew his first name. He stood about 6'1", and had short-cropped sandy hair, with some early gray hair mixed in. Andrews was an intimidating man, mostly because his facial expression never gave away his true motives. The fact that he wore sunglasses even indoors may also have had something to do with it.

Andrews entered one of the facility's hidden labs at a brisk pace. Like Weston, he was concerned about what had taken place the night before. Never had so many Digimon broken through at once. And, unfortunately, there was only one good theory he could come up with as to why they had all gotten through. The theory itself, however, was very disturbing. Unfortunately, it was the only explanation.

"Did you come up with anything, sir?" came a voice from his side. Andrews' head whipped around, only for him to see his assistant, Halley, standing beside him. Halley was an attractive woman about 23 years old, with shoulder-length straw colored hair. Her brown eyes were fixated on him, a sign she was waiting for a response.

"Yes." Andrews replied.

"And?" she pressed, knowing that it would be the only way to get a straight answer out of him.

"And I can only guess this means the barrier is weakening." Andrews finished.

Halley nearly dropped her clipboard in shock. "But that can't be! If the barrier weakens, even more Digimon could get through, and the next ones might not be just at the Rookie and Champion levels!"

"That's what's got me so worried. If the barrier gets any weaker, Jon and Weston certainly won't be able to stop all the bio-emergences by themselves. They both had their hands full last night with only three Champions and one Rookie."

"But surely there's something we could do!" Halley exclaimed, worry and fear evident in her voice. If Jon and Weston both fell…It was just to horrible to imagine.

"The only thing we can do right now is pray that another tamer appears soon. My gut tells me that things are going to get much worse, and the load might get to be too much for just the two of them."

Just then, the alarms in the building started to blare. "Another bio-emergence?" Andrews questioned, already knowing and dreading the answer.

"Yes sir," said one of the workers, "But this one's readings are different!"

"What do you mean by different?" Halley asked, turning to the man.

"They seem to line up more with Dorumon and Neo Agumon's before they bio-emerged." the worker replied.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Halley asked, this time to Andrews.

"It means our prayers may have just been answered." said Andrews in return. "Track it. I want to know when and where it will emerge. Halley?"

"Yes sir?"

"Contact Jon and Weston."

_**--Scene Change--**_

The sound of a phone ringing pierced through the silent apartment, which was immediately followed by a groan of annoyance from the lump beneath the covers on the bed. A shock of red hair peeked out from under the comforter, followed shortly by a pair of sleepy hazel eyes.

"_Damnit," _the boy thought as he slid off the bed, _"Andrews said I wouldn't have to worry about them for the next couple of days."_

The red-head nudged the purple-and-silver 'pillow' at the foot of his bed, which elicited a grunt, followed closely by a growl from said 'pillow'. It uncurled itself sluggishly and stared at its tamer.

"What." it growled, looking none to pleased with the early wake-up it had received.

"Hypnos is calling, I figured you needed to be awake for whatever they have to tell us." his human partner replied.

"Weren't we supposed to have the next three days off?" the creature replied, sounding far more annoyed now that he knew the reason he had been awakened early.

"You know how it goes Dorumon… but still, something big must have happened if their calling us now." the boy supplied.

"This is Jon." he said, finally answering the phone.

Jon listened to the person on the other end and his eyes narrowed at the information he had just received.

"We're on our way." Jon replied to the caller.

"So what was that all about?"

Jon smirked. "Looks like we're about to add a third member to the team."

_**--Scene Change--**_

Weston's phone rang throughout the classroom, startling many people out of the stupor that had settled over them since the class had began. Weston looked sheepishly toward his professor, already dreading the glare he could feel burning into his skull. He sure hoped that Halley had a good reason to be calling him. He silently stepped out of the classroom and answered.

"This is Weston." he said.

He listened for a second, before a wide grin split his face. "We'll be there as soon as we can." he replied, right before he took off sprinting toward his apartment.

_**--Scene Change--**_

"They're on their way, sir." Halley said as she ended her call to Weston. She turned to stare at her boss, awaiting his next order.

"Good. They can deal with this better than we could anyway." Andrews replied.

"Sir?" Halley questioned.

"They've both been through this. It would be better for them to explain the main points. Jon could probably cover most of the details on his own. Besides, they'll be working together, so they should at least try to establish some common ground."

Halley's eyes shined with understanding. "So, are we just going to sit back and wait, then?"

"For now, it's about all we can do."

_**--Scene Change--**_

Rachel sighed. Her boyfriend was supposed to pick her up 15 minutes ago. If he was standing her up, heads were going to roll.

"_Oh well, he's not that fun to hang out with anyway." _She thought. _"I'll just dump him today during lunch. Public humiliation should teach him not to mess with me."_

After waiting another five minutes, she finally decided just to call one of her other friends for a ride. But as she was dialing, a fog bank seemed to erupt from the ground in front of her.

"What in the-" she started, but stopped short when she saw how fast the fog seemed to expand. It was also thick, as she could barely see two feet in front of her.

"_Okay, this is just too freaky. No fog bank could appear and spread that fast. Just what is going on here?"_

She tried to see the point where the fog had spouted from, but the fog was just too thick. Gathering her courage, she stepped forward, determined to discover just what had caused her street to generate fog at such a rapid pace. As she moved toward the center of the fog, she noticed that it seemed to become easier to see. Eventually, Rachel came to a circular field where there was no fog at all. She didn't have long to ponder this phenomenon, however, because the creature sitting in the middle of the "clearing" commanded her immediate attention.

It resembled a bird in some ways. It had two wings, a beak, feathers, and stood on two talons. However, that's where the similarities ended. First of all, it was larger than most birds, coming nearly waist high on her 5'7" frame. Secondly, its feathers were hot pink, with blue feathers on the back of its head, and it seemed to have red claws on the end of its wings. It also had a metal cuff around the ankle of its right leg.

The "bird" opened its eyes and glanced around the area, before coming to rest on Rachel. Rachel couldn't seem to take her eyes off of the bright green eyes of the creature. The creature blinked, and it almost seemed to smile at her, if the upward twitch of its beak was any indication.

"Hi!" it chirped, in a surprisingly female voice. Rachel's eyes widened, before she shrieked and tried to back away, only to lose her balance and fall.

"H-How did- W-What are y-you?" she stammered. The creature itself wasn't all that scary, after all, pink wasn't all that intimidating, but the situation was what had her heart racing.

"I'm Biyomon, your new partner!" the bird exclaimed, obviously excited about that prospect. "By the way, why did you fall down?"

"Partner?" Rachel questioned, ignoring that last comment for now. Before Biyomon could answer her, her cell phone vibrated slightly and let out an ear-splitting beep. She shrieked again and dropped the phone, only to have it start to glow slightly, before it floated back into her hand, transformed.

Her phone now resembled a misshapen PDA, with top almost twice as wide as its bottom, and a slit on one side just big enough to slide a piece of paper through. The device's main body was white, while the screen in the middle was outlined in navy blue.

"Just what the heck is going on here…" she said, unable to wrap her mind around the fact that her phone had just transformed into some kind of mini-computer.

"I think we can answer that." she heard from behind her.

"I think we can answer that." She whirled around, scrambling to her feet, and was confronted with two men, both older than her by their looks. From his smirk, it was the red-headed one that had spoken. The other seemed content to sit back and watch, if his laid back posture was any clue.

"Who are you? And just what is going on here?" Rachel demanded. She was getting tired of being left out of the loop. She didn't even know who these guys were (although, in her opinion, they were kind of cute). For all she knew, they were stalkers of some sort.

The red-head smirked and spoke, confirming it was he who spoke the first time. "It's simple really. You're a Digimon Tamer."

"Huh?" came Rachel's intelligent reply. She looked between the two, unable to decide just what exactly was going on.

"You're a Digimon Tamer." the same man replied, only this time his smirk had widened, as though he thought her confusion was funny.

"I still have no idea what your talking about. And for that matter, who are you?" Rachel wasn't one for games, especially when she was the one that was being played with.

"To answer your second question, my name's Jon Viridian, and his name is Weston Smith." The red-head, now named Jon, said. The smirk never left his face even as he introduced himself. That same smirk was starting to grate on Rachel's nerves, so she turned to the other man and nodded, signifying that she understood his name.

"I'm Rachel Jones." the blonde supplied the two. Both nodded back to her. "Now, what do you mean 'Digimon Tamer'?"

"Well," Jon started, "For starters, that thing behind you is a Digimon, which is short for digital monster."

Rachel turned back to the bird that was now standing right behind her. She jumped a bit at seeing it a such close proximity, when only a moment ago it had been halfway across the street.

"So, you're a… digimon?" she questioned.

"Uh-huh." the bird said, once again in what seemed to be a female voice.

"Okay, so what's all this 'tamer' business then?" she said, turning back to face Jon and Weston.

Before either one could answer, three loud shrieks emitted from nearby. Rachel looked around franticly, until she realized that the noise was coming from the device in her hand. She looked at it and saw what appeared to be a holographic compass shining above the screen. She saw the two men with her take out devices similar to hers. Weston's was white with orange lining, while Jon's was black with red lining. Both devices had a compass similar to hers. The weirdest thing was that the compasses were all spinning wildly, similar to what a magnetic compass would do on the north or south pole.

"What's happening?" Rachel said, slightly unnerved with the reactions of the devices. She noticed that Weston's eyes had widened, and that Jon's posture had changed slightly. He now seemed more alert and serious. She noticed he had taken out a cell phone and appeared to be dialing a number even though he was not looking directly at the phone. Both he and Weston started looking around franticly, as if trying to find some kind of unseen enemy.

Jon brought the phone to his ear. "Andrews, we've got a reading on the D-Arcs. They're saying that there's a wild one on the way to this spot. Why are we just now finding out about this?" he said. His tone showed that he was less than pleased with the situation.

"_What's a wild one?"_ Rachel thought, suddenly worried. Whatever this 'wild one' was, it was obviously not something she wanted to meet if the boys' reactions were anything to go on.

Jon snapped the phone shut, obviously having gotten the information he wanted. "Apparently, this guy hid in Biyomon's data stream, so the scanners didn't pick it up until now."

"Of course." Weston said. "This _would_ happen now." the sarcasm in the statement was lost on no one. "I'll take care of it."

"No." Jon said. "You and Neo Agumon are still injured from last night; not to mention you left him with your car. I'll take this one."

"But-"

"No. We don't have the time." Just then, a primal roar ripped through the suburb. A dark figure moved on the outside of the mist. Despite herself, Rachel moved closer to Jon, as he was the closer of the two men. Biyomon moved in front of the two, as if to protect them from the threat.

"Dorumon! Let's go!" Jon intoned. A purple furred raptor-like being seemed to phase into existence before the group. The raptor was growling slightly, and his fur was bristling, showing he was prepared to face the threat.

The figure in the fog seemed to take this as a challenge, for it lunged out of the mist, intent on putting an end to this perceived danger to itself.

The figure, now visible, seemed to be some type of ape. It stood on two legs, and muscles rippled across its entire body. Its fur was golden-yellow, and the flesh that was visible was a dark, navy blue color. It carried a large bone shaped like a boomerang. With its teeth gleaming in the overcast light, it looked every bit as menacing as the roar from earlier led to believe.

Rachel gasped at the sight, while Jon's eyes seemed to gain an icy quality to them. Weston positioned himself near the group, and clutched his D-Arc tightly.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Biyomon said from in front of Rachel. Rachel looked between the giant ape and the small pink bird and did the only sensible thing she could think of at the time. She moved even closer to Jon, ending up nearly right behind him. If Jon was uncomfortable with this move, he didn't show it, too busy analyzing the situation to say anything.

Jon directed his D-Arc toward the ape and was rewarded with a holographic image of said ape appearing above the screen. A language never before seen on Earth rotated around the edge off the circular screen.

"Apemon, Champion Level Digimon. Attacks are Metallic Fur and Bone Stick." Jon recited, reading the unknown language as if it were English. "This guy could get annoying if we let this drag on, so let's finish this quickly, Dorumon."

Dorumon smirked, displaying a shocking resemblance to his tamer, before he rushed forward, directly at the ape.

Apemon growled and brought his club in front of himself, preparing to bash Dorumon's head in when the raptor got close enough. Unfortunately for the ape-like Digimon, it had underestimated Dorumon's agility, as when he brought the bone down, Dorumon dodged to the left. The bone narrowly missed, allowing Dorumon to get in a free body-check on the ape.

Apemon flew back a few feet, but didn't fall over. It raised the bone and flung it toward the raptor with a cry of "Bone Stick!"

Dorumon jumped over the flying bone, and opened his mouth as if he were going to roar at the ape. A pool of molten metal formed in his mouth, as he fired his own attack toward the enemy Digimon.

"Metal Cannon!" came Dorumon's retaliation. The metal seemed to solidify as it flew rapidly through the air towards its target. It slammed into the unprepared ape, dropping it on its back.

Jon scowled. That attack had enough power behind it to punch through a tank, yet it only knocked Apemon down. _"Metallic Fur indeed…" _Jon thought ruefully. He focused his energy to his right hand, and a bright silver flame burst into existence around the hand. A black fingerless glove had appeared on his hand in the same instance. He reached down with his now flaming hand and opened the pouch on his right hip. From the pouch, he drew a blank, metallic card. He focused his energy into the card, causing the card to activate. The card showed a pair of metal claws, with its boarders a blue color. The same writing that was on Apemon's image in the D-Arc also adorned the card.

"Digi-Modify" Jon said as he slashed the edge of the card through the slit on the side of his D-Arc, "Adamantium Claws, Activate!"

A pair of razor-sharp claws appeared on Dorumon's forearms. Dorumon landed on his feet, and dashed toward Apemon, his new claws leading the way. The disoriented ape was just picking itself up when Dorumon's claws ripped through his abdomen. Blood splattered on the ground from the gaping wound in Apemon's stomach as it struggled to keep itself upright. It failed in the end, and fell to the ground once again. As it fell, particles of data drifted off the ape's form. Then, the downed ape burst into data with the sound of shattering glass. The data flowed toward the now glowing Dorumon, and was absorbed into his being.

Rachel stared in shock at the brutality she had just witnessed. She turned her gaze toward Jon, and noticed that his hand had returned to normal. Jon noticed her gaze and smirked once again.

"That was what this 'tamer business' is all about."

_**--Scene Change--**_

Jon glanced across his jeep at the, still, shell-shocked sixteen year old girl beside him. She hadn't said much after the battle, simply staring at Dorumon and him with shock and a little revulsion. This didn't really surprise him; even Halley, whom he had worked with for over a year, still cringed at some of the brutal ways that he took care of the invading Digimon.

Jon sighed lightly. If he was going to be able to work with this new girl, he was going to have to make her understand exactly _why _he had killed that Digimon.

"I still don't understand why I have to come with you _now._" she said, breaking the silence._ "_I mean I've got school today and if I miss people will talk. It'll get back to my parents and I'll be dead."

"Like I told you earlier, we'll take care of that. You don't have to worry about getting in trouble yet." Jon replied conspiringly.

Rachel's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Yet?" she intoned, now outright glaring at him.

Jon smirked. "Well you certainly can't tell your parents about _them_." He said, pointing into the back of his car where Dorumon and Biyomon rode. Dorumon was curled into a ball once again, trying desperately to get a little more sleep before they arrived at Hypnos. Unfortunately, Biyomon seemed to have developed a bit of a crush on the raptor, and was staring and babbling incessantly about how 'cool' he was against Apemon. Jon knew it wouldn't be long before Dorumon snapped on the poor diminutive bird, but at the same time just couldn't bring himself to stop the torture either. "Not only would they freak, but they could call the cops or animal control and we'd have some real trouble on our hands."

"And just what would be wrong with calling animal control? They are dangerous aniamls after all." Rachel asked, out of both annoyance and slight curiosity. It was obvious by the way Jon and Weston acted after the battle that most people had no idea these so called Digimon even existed.

"First of all, they can talk. So obviously they're not as animalistic as you perceive them to be." Jon said in annoyance. "And second, after you saw Dorumon fight today, what do you really expect the police to do? Or animal control? Face it, Digimon aren't animals. They're much more dangerous."

"Why is that? Sure they have some weird powers, like whatever that was that Dorumon shot at the big ape thing. But bears have bigger claws and lots of animals have sharper teeth."

"Because," Jon said, a deadly serious look on his face, "they can _think._ Why do you think serial killers are so dangerous? Most earthly animals only react on instinct to what they perceive as a threat. Digimon don't. Every time they attack it's because they choose to. They can strategize; there are some of them that are even smarter than a super computer."

"Really…?" Rachel challenged. That ape certainly didn't seem to be genius material.

"Most of them aren't like Apemon." Jon stated, looking back to the road. Rachel was silent for a while, processing the information Jon had imparted to her.

"Isn't there any other way though…?" she asked softly. Jon glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. He had been waiting for that question. Weston had asked that very question more than once and he knew it wouldn't be the last time Rachel would ask it. Hell, even he had asked himself that question many times before.

"Because with these guys it's kill or be killed. We simply don't have the technology to send them back to the Digital World and even if we did they would have to go willingly. And most of them don't want to. Trust me. I know."

"Oh." was all Rachel could say in response.

The rest of the car ride passed in silence.

_**--Scene Change--**_

Rachel couldn't help but gawk at the enormous building Jon had driven them to. Weston walked up beside the two, and shared a bemused look with Jon over Rachel's expression.

"_This _is your headquarters? I thought this was some kind of big time government facility?"

"It is." Jon stated simply. Rachel glanced toward him, a questioning look on her face once again. They had separated from the Digimon a few moments back, Dorumon being forced to lead Biyomon to the Digimon's special entrance. Apparently not even the people that worked in the main part of the building knew what went on behind the scenes.

Jon lead the others to the elevator, where he placed his D-Arc up to the alarm button. A beam of light shot from the screen and into the cracks around the button. He then removed the D-Arc and pressed the button twice.

"Remember," Jon said, turning to Rachel and Weston, "press the button twice. Not once. If you wait more than three seconds between presses the alarm will sound. And if you don't use your D-Arc it will automatically sound. Isn't that right Weston?" Jon smirked at the man next to him. Weston gave him a glare that could've melted steel. Jon smiled.

"We shall not speak of that." Weston said darkly.

"Wait a minute!" Rachel exclaimed. Both males jumped slightly at the sudden loudness of her voice. She whirled to face Weston. "Did you say your last name was Smith?"

Both men relaxed slightly and glared at her for her outburst. "Yeah…"

"Do you know a girl named Megan Smith?" she asked, her expression suddenly unreadable.

"Yes. She's my younger sister. Why?" Weston replied.

"Your related to that bitch! I go to school with her!" she exclaimed, rage clouding her features for a second. Weston's eyebrows shot to his hairline in surprise. That certainly was a very colorful impression of his sister. Rachel blushed brightly and apologized quietly.

"Don't worry about it." Weston chuckled, "I've always thought that too. My parents don't believe me though."

Rachel smiled at him. She was still embarrassed about her outburst but at least Weston was cool about it. Maybe she could actually come to like these two. They both had their playful sides and they weren't that serious unless the situation called for it.

The elevator finally stopped, and the group stepped out into a clear hallway with glass doors at the end. As Rachel followed the others to the doors, she saw rooms filled with computers. Every now and then, she would see an employee dart from one computer to the other.

She followed the two into the room at the end of the hallway. As they entered the room, she noticed a man wearing a pair of sunglasses and an attractive woman standing there waiting with the three Digimon. The man in the sunglasses turned to face her as they entered.

"So, this is our newest recruit?"

_**--Chapter End--**_

_**--End Theme Weight of the World by Saliva plays.**_


End file.
